How to Make a Stiffened Fabric Flower Brooch

Yup. I’m still messing around with fabric stiffener. Here’s the latest result – a cool little dimensional fabric flower brooch. Suitable for crocheted hats, handbags, lapels, and scarves!

…And they’re pretty easy to make.

If you like, you can download my template for the flower shapes here. Or you can design your own.

Then, use my templates or yours to cut flowers from three different fabrics.

Cut another set of three, so you can place them back to back. If you’re using my templates, keep in mind that I made them a little off-center and casual. So you’ll want to flip them over when you cut out the second set of flowers, so they match up.

Now, we need some forms. We’ll be draping the moist fabric over these, so they dry in a more flowerlike shape. I’m using a measuring cup and two plastic containers. Raid your kitchen for bowls and mugs and things you can invert, and see what has the best size and shape.

You’ll need to cover these forms with plastic wrap, so the fabric stiffener won’t stick to them.

…And you may want to tape the edges of the plastic wrap down with some masking tape. You don’t have to get the plastic wrap perfectly smooth, but it should be mostly smooth.

So, to stiffen, place the first fabric flower over the form, face down. (Was that a world record for most occurrences of the letter “F” in a sentence?)

Pour a little fabric stiffener into a dish. Use your fingers to spread a light coat over the fabric, making sure you cover every bit of it.

Then, place the second fabric flower on top of the first, face up, matching the edges as best you can.

And lastly, use your fingers again to spread another light coat of stiffener all over.

This might seem a little complicated – why don’t you just dip the pieces into the stiffener and be done with it?

Well, after much testing, this method proved to stiffen the fabric nicely and add just a little sheen. It’s important not to get too much stiffener on the fabric, as it tends to gum up when it dries.

I have a veritable wasteland of failed prototypes over here, if you’d ever like to discuss alternate methods and why they don’t work as well. I could go on for days. :-)

Anyway. Leave your flowers to dry overnight. In the morning, carefully peel them away from the plastic.

Now for the fun part: use a round (not ridged) pencil to give the tips of the petals a nice curl.

Then you can glue the flowers together…

…And add a nice button center.

Glue a pin back to the back, and glue a little square of fabric over it, like this.

And you’re all set! These would look nice and elegant made from all the same fabric. And you could easily to a beaded center instead of a button.

Happy Flower-Making!